Skip links

Main navigation

Main Content

"How have we forgotten this incredible story? A deadly environmental disaster visited upon modern London, a serial killer stalking women at its zenith—this is a tale dying to be told."

―Bryan Burrough, New York Times bestselling author of Public Enemies and Barbarians at the Gate

2017-07-06T22:53:11+00:00

―Bryan Burrough, New York Times bestselling author of Public Enemies and Barbarians at the Gate

"How have we forgotten this incredible story? A deadly environmental disaster visited upon modern London, a serial killer stalking women at its zenith—this is a tale dying to be told."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/bryan-burrough/

"I was seven, and living in London, when these two dreadful and murderous events uncoiled...Dawson has done the history of my city a great service, and she is to be commended for telling a terrible tale memorably and brilliantly."

―Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman

2017-07-06T22:54:51+00:00

―Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman

"I was seven, and living in London, when these two dreadful and murderous events uncoiled...Dawson has done the history of my city a great service, and she is to be commended for telling a terrible tale memorably and brilliantly."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/simon-winchester/

"A fascinating, beautifully researched, and compulsively readable book...Not since The Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale."

―Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monster of Florence and The Lost City of the Monkey God

2017-07-17T23:07:02+00:00

―Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monster of Florence and The Lost City of the Monkey God

"A fascinating, beautifully researched, and compulsively readable book...Not since The Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/douglas-preston/

"A killer fog. A killer loose amidst it. Dawson does what skilled storytellers do: drops you in a London peopled by finely etched characters and keeps you turning pages through the twist and turns of a harrowing case."

―Joe Drape, New York Times bestselling author of American Pharoah and Our Boys

2017-07-17T23:07:37+00:00

―Joe Drape, New York Times bestselling author of American Pharoah and Our Boys

"A killer fog. A killer loose amidst it. Dawson does what skilled storytellers do: drops you in a London peopled by finely etched characters and keeps you turning pages through the twist and turns of a harrowing case."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/joe-drape/

"A London peasouper hangs over the city as a serial killer stalks its streets! This is a true tale of criminal violence against the backdrop of one of the worst environmental disasters of all time, one that led to the death of 12,000 people."

―Christine L. Corton, author of London Fog: The Biography

2017-07-17T23:08:55+00:00

―Christine L. Corton, author of London Fog: The Biography

"A London peasouper hangs over the city as a serial killer stalks its streets! This is a true tale of criminal violence against the backdrop of one of the worst environmental disasters of all time, one that led to the death of 12,000 people."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/christine-l-corton/

"A deranged maniac plays Fleet Street's reporters like a fiddle at the same time that an industrial-age climate disaster explodes into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Richly detailed and shrewdly told, Kate Winkler Dawson's Death in the Air is as suspenseful as it is chillingly relevant."

―Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls

2017-07-17T23:10:12+00:00

―Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls

"A deranged maniac plays Fleet Street's reporters like a fiddle at the same time that an industrial-age climate disaster explodes into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Richly detailed and shrewdly told, Kate Winkler Dawson's Death in the Air is as suspenseful as it is chillingly relevant."

http://www.katewinklerdawson.com/testimonials/robert-kolker/

"Dawson has reached deep into the past and pulled forth a spellbinding, darkly gothic tale of two serial killers—only one of which was human. Death in the Air surprised me, entranced me, and changed the way I see one of the most urgent issues facing the world today."

―Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir

2017-07-20T11:59:37+00:00

―Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir

"Dawson has reached deep into the past and pulled forth a spellbinding, darkly gothic tale of two serial killers—only one of which was human. Death in the Air surprised me, entranced me, and changed the way I see one of the most urgent issues facing the world today."

“Tendrils of sickening fog creep everywhere in this book, and terror lurks in the shadows. Dawson skillfully weaves these two events into a substantial narrative that will appeal to all types of readers.”

―Library Journal (starred review)

2017-09-12T10:33:54+00:00

―Library Journal (starred review)

“Tendrils of sickening fog creep everywhere in this book, and terror lurks in the shadows. Dawson skillfully weaves these two events into a substantial narrative that will appeal to all types of readers.”

About the Book

It was a thick fog, predicted to blow over within hours, but it held London hostage for five days. Less than a week after it dissipated, serial killer John Reginald Christie strangled his wife and buried her under the floorboards of their parlor. He would soon kill three more women.

Within months, Christie became one of the most infamous serial killers of the twentieth century. He would be at the epicenter of a case so controversial that it’s still debated among criminologists today. It triggered outrage in the United Kingdom and around the world.

But in early December of 1952, as Christie hovered over his mementos in the back garden, another murderer slipped around corners, crept into homes across the city in an unprecedented killing spree. It murdered thousands of people in less than one hundred hours, a dense fog that morphed into deadly smog, later called the Great Smog of 1952.